tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.comments2015-03-03T06:37:14.850+00:00SOCIALISM OR YOUR MONEY BACKprolerathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01698202497017246060noreply@blogger.comBlogger2090125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-70255578113719260022015-03-02T13:06:26.321+00:002015-03-02T13:06:26.321+00:00&quot; [Cuba is] ... also a country of 12 million ... &quot; [Cuba is] ... also a country of 12 million people with huge potential.&quot;<br /><br />Add: &quot;...just crying out to be further exploited for profit.&quot; Gwynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748261149643428257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-47055173986150653462015-03-02T12:59:56.523+00:002015-03-02T12:59:56.523+00:00As ever there are no interests involved here worth...As ever there are no interests involved here worth the shedding of a drop of working class blood.<br /><br />No to all nationalism!Gwynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12748261149643428257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-14238551049597762502015-03-02T10:46:21.082+00:002015-03-02T10:46:21.082+00:00Here&#39;s the reply of our candidate in Islington...Here&#39;s the reply of our candidate in Islington North:<br /><br />&quot;Thank you for your email, and request to sign up to your Simpol principles. I&#39;m afraid I cannot.<br /><br />Whilst the Socialist Party shares your general principles of democracy, co-operation and worldwide action, we see the problems facing the world as stemming from the ownership of the wealth of the world by a privileged class. We do not think the world&#39;s problems can be solved until the wealth of the world is taken into the common and direct democratic ownership of the whole of humanity.<br /><br />Specifically, we think this requires a self-conscious and active movement of people working together, worldwide, and we cannot allow this movement to be divided into nation states or rely on Governments to help us.<br /><br />If you would like to know more about the World Socialist Movement, please do take a look at our website at www.worldsocialism.org<br /><br />Your for World Socialism,<br /><br />Bill Martin (Socialist Party Candidate, Islington North).Londonsocialisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06840315496347318803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-23669970274083291302015-02-25T04:15:08.247+00:002015-02-25T04:15:08.247+00:00Of course class domination through the wage system...Of course class domination through the wage system is the central problem. Good on the SPGB for hammering that point home. But, it&#39;s also a problem that the wealth which accumulates amongst the upper 10%, accumulates faster when it isn&#39;t being used to shore up the NHS or other health, education and welfare measures. By saying that you don&#39;t care about this rort, you&#39;re turning workers off. Mike Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05410520975856239745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-87419339437371316152015-02-25T04:02:50.570+00:002015-02-25T04:02:50.570+00:00Large food companies are selling more of their pac...Large food companies are selling more of their packaged foods to America&#39;s poor because they have figured out a way to do it at a much higher profit margin. Manufacturers like Kraft are selling food in smaller packages. These granola bars, sauces, cereals, and prepared meals look like they cost less, but actually are far more expensive on a per ounce basis. <br /><br />Shrinking package sizes allows Kraft to reach higher profit margins on products, though it won&#39;t sell as many as it would in a larger store. For instance, a 12-ounce package of Velveeta Shells &amp; Cheese cost $2.50 at the Dollar Tree store in New York City. Meanwhile, a 2.4 ounce cup cost $1.25. That&#39;s 21 cents an ounce versus 52 cents an ounce.<br />http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/07/how-big-food-brands-are-boosting-profits-by-targeting-the-poor/?hpid=z5ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-36533512141260968472015-02-24T20:19:13.537+00:002015-02-24T20:19:13.537+00:00Labour&#39;s capitalist millionaires:
Lord Sains...Labour&#39;s capitalist millionaires:<br /><br /> Lord Sainsbury worth £400m, Lord Grantchester worth £80m, Lord Drayson worth £75m, Tony Blair worth £30m, Margaret Hodge worth £18m, Shaun Woodward worth £15m, Geoffrey Robinson worth £10m, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls and other shadow cabinet members are millionaires. <br /><br />hat tip Vinajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-60588604237405115802015-02-23T10:50:51.728+00:002015-02-23T10:50:51.728+00:00Who can forget the then Labour minister Peter Mand...Who can forget the then Labour minister Peter Mandelson’s comment that he was &quot;intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich&quot; <br /><br />Which was recently echoed by Chuka Umunna, Labour shadow business minister who remarked, &quot;I don’t have a problem with people making a lot of money”<br />ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-37358334399871002332015-02-23T04:34:33.444+00:002015-02-23T04:34:33.444+00:00Excellent. Makes perfect sense, Comrade. Thank-y...Excellent. Makes perfect sense, Comrade. Thank-you very much for your clear, articulate explanations. I do think that these questions are being raised in voters&#39; minds when your candidates speak at political rallies. That&#39;s why I ask them...I&#39;m one of those voters. Mike Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05410520975856239745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-16537468903404910122015-02-23T04:18:41.492+00:002015-02-23T04:18:41.492+00:00Mike, i think once he leaves Intensive Care after ...Mike, i think once he leaves Intensive Care after the coronary Cde Foster had upon hearing that he won the election, the Party will then settle down to actually discussing his attitude and his actions in parliament and i am sure there will be many issues of social justice raised.<br /><br /> I said Party because our MPs will not be representatives but delegates and this is written into our rule-book ... &quot;Candidates elected to a Political office shall be pledged to act on the instructions of their Branches locally, and by the Executive Committee nationally.&quot; Yet another of our strictures to avoid the possibility of leaders and cults of personalitiesajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-3586580427173683262015-02-23T04:16:03.129+00:002015-02-23T04:16:03.129+00:00Thanks Comrade. Makes perfect sense to me. Vote ...Thanks Comrade. Makes perfect sense to me. Vote SPGB!Mike Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05410520975856239745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-25188199313550479482015-02-23T03:47:13.333+00:002015-02-23T03:47:13.333+00:00You underestimate what your vote could do to suppo...You underestimate what your vote could do to support the class interests of the proletariat in Parliament, if you were an elected minority. The workers produce the wealth and 9/10 of what politics is about is about the division of that wealth between the two major classes in capitalist States. <br /><br />You could vote to increase the amount of wealth going into the NHS. You could present legislation for shortening the work week with no cut in pay. You could argue for greater amounts of wealth to be taxed away from the upper 10% to fund social wage measure which benefit the working class. <br /><br />Generally, I support your program and would hope that a majority of workers would too. If they did, that would be the end of the wage system and commodity production. But what you fail to realise is that class conscious workers, like myself, cannot be co-opted into supporting the rule of Capital just because we can rest assured that we can depend on the NHS being fully funded by taxes on the bourgeoisie. Mike Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05410520975856239745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-56070616978382771192015-02-22T04:56:02.028+00:002015-02-22T04:56:02.028+00:00A bit ambiguity...&quot;these folk&quot; doesn&#39...A bit ambiguity...&quot;these folk&quot; doesn&#39;t refer to the link which is to Casey&#39;s obituary...it refers to the anarchist critics on Libcom<br />You can read the exchanges here<br />http://libcom.org/forums/theory/are-spgb-libertarian-communist-19012015ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-11893866433070126982015-02-22T04:44:37.299+00:002015-02-22T04:44:37.299+00:00A member of our companion party the WSPUS (as well...A member of our companion party the WSPUS (as well as the IWW) has studied the history of the Socialist Party of Canada a little and had this to say on a Libcom thread. <br /><br />&quot;Classically, the impossibilist tendancy that the SPGB is a isolated reminder, never viewed elected to office members as representatives but as delegates. There role is seen to block the capitalist party(ies) where possible and undercut the capitalist state legitimacy as much as possible. In the rare occasions where they were elected (the Canadian Party elected I think 8 provincial legislators over 20 years) they were pretty spot on, occasionally getting some pro-working class health and workplace safety legislation passed. This was always accompanied with provisos that the legislation would never be permanent, the capitalist class and it&#39;s parties would always work to destroy any gains made in the legislature and that class struggle and class organization was needed.<br /><br />There was a tendency to emphasize solely the electoral position that arose in the SPGB, etc with the ascendancy of Stalinism and its thuggery.<br /><br />But in the SPGB&#39;s defense the most famous &quot;Australian IWW song&quot; Bump me into parliament was actually written by Bill Casey, who was a member of the SPGB&#39;s companion party. It is an attack on labour/leninist attempts at electoral reformism. So how does it happen that these folks denounce precisely what you are accusing them of? <br />http://www.iww.org.au/node/351<br /><br />4) And the Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) did organize the class struggle in the form of the One Big Union. It pulled tens of thousands of workers out of the AFL in both Canada and the US. Here&#39;s some readings on libcom about the OBU. <br /> http://libcom.org/tags/one-big-union <br /><br />The AFL tasked it&#39;s number 3 man and $100,000s to innocculate its membership and isolate the OBU. We can talk about this some other place.<br /><br />I hope that answer some part of your query and how we will respond if some are elected and our influence grew stronger. ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-32611356645898720982015-02-22T03:48:50.784+00:002015-02-22T03:48:50.784+00:00I&#39;m hoping that the SPGB gets some candidates ...I&#39;m hoping that the SPGB gets some candidates elected before they get all their candidates elected. The elephant in the room is what these candidates would do in government, if that ever eventuated. There seems to be a fear amongst SPGB members that if that were to happen, their program would be co-opted or that reforms like voting for shorter work time would lead to the pacification of class consciousness amongst workers.Mike Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05410520975856239745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-19974708449325058232015-02-21T22:25:26.257+00:002015-02-21T22:25:26.257+00:00Soooo well writern and so many of the rich are get...Soooo well writern and so many of the rich are getting richer and do not care how they speek to their workers. There is no sence of respect anymore.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-60574666152459061212015-02-19T22:17:43.322+00:002015-02-19T22:17:43.322+00:00Your elucidation is now very meaningful and substa...Your elucidation is now very meaningful and substantiated. &quot;You are indeed right to point out that it is not any character fault of capitalists individually or collectively that is responsible for the many social ills that exist. It is indeed system error of the entire capitalist edifice. Capitalists can be described as much slaves to the system as we workers are. They have to respond and act according to the laws of the market, or face the reality that they will fail in business.&quot;<br />That&#39;s exactly the way this system works, it&#39;s not about individual&#39;s lack of character, it&#39;s a collective pressure exerted by the laws and forces of the economy. <br />Your explanation was very accurate, factual and objective. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-619381880861058552015-02-19T01:25:47.934+00:002015-02-19T01:25:47.934+00:00The poet Humbert Wolfe said it best: “You cannot h...The poet Humbert Wolfe said it best: “You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God, the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there&#39;s no occasion to.”ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-1071053546431366742015-02-18T14:11:00.951+00:002015-02-18T14:11:00.951+00:00Just to clarify, the piece was not by a Socialist ...Just to clarify, the piece was not by a Socialist Party member nor by one of the bloggers but a re-post becausef as Janet said (her comment is in italic)...it reflects much of our own ideas...but not all of them. <br /><br />You are indeed right to point out that it is not any character fault of capitalists individually or collectively that is responsible for the many social ills that exist. It is indeed system error of the entire capitalist edifice. Capitalists can be described as much slaves to the system as we workers are. They have to respond and act according to the laws of the market, or face the reality that they will fail in business. Their personal morality is put to the side if it conflicts with the over-riding business drive to accumulate profit. The capitalist is not simply a person with huge wealth but has a functional role of investing. The CEO of an oil company may well be a regular church-going upstanding member of the community but when it comes to his ethical position, it is the business interests that is primary and so criminally culpable in the fossil fuel complicity in climate change, even if not formally illegal. ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-65969272697210137632015-02-18T13:39:32.881+00:002015-02-18T13:39:32.881+00:00My friend, my friend, my friend, when will you sto...My friend, my friend, my friend, when will you stop writing shallow articles like this and start making substantiated ones? &quot;They are criminals and will find their way through this, we just need to accept this. Like a murderer, capitalists psycopaths will always violate the law, and we need to conform that.&quot; That&#39;s ridiculous. <br />Please, do something with purpose. capitalists are not psycopaths and just because they do things illegally doesn&#39;t mean we have to conform it. try again. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-84202086419383151792015-02-18T02:30:43.199+00:002015-02-18T02:30:43.199+00:00i believe the talk will be recorded and will event...i believe the talk will be recorded and will eventually be uploaded to the Party&#39;s website.<br /><br /> I see no reason if you also wish to record it yourself that there will be any objection.ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-44321045148401437192015-02-17T20:07:03.918+00:002015-02-17T20:07:03.918+00:00Will anyone be allowed to record the talk so peopl...Will anyone be allowed to record the talk so people out of the UK like me can see it on the internet? It would be a very great initiative to make people all over the world aware about marxist theory of crisis.<br />Thanks. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-29765602657353394202015-02-17T06:48:49.374+00:002015-02-17T06:48:49.374+00:00In case it is thought by some a dated argument, no...In case it is thought by some a dated argument, not so long ago the Marxist analyst Paul Mattick Jr. made the following explanation.<br /><br />“Tax money appears to be paid by everyone. But despite the appearance that business is undertaxed, only business actually pays taxes. To understand this, remember that the total income produced in a year is the money available for all purposes. Some of this money must go to replace producers’ goods used up in the previous year; some must go in the form of wages to buy consumer goods so that the labour force can reproduce itself; the rest appears as profit, interest, rent – and taxes. The money workers actually get is their ‘after tax’ income; from this perspective, tax increases on employee income are just a way of lowering wages. The money deducted from paycheques, as well as from dividends, capital gains and other forms of business income, could appear as business profits – which, let us remember, is basically the money generated by workers’ activity that they do not receive as wages – if it didn’t flow through paycheques (or other income) into government coffers” (Business As Usual )ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-74336860975466639752015-02-17T05:30:48.627+00:002015-02-17T05:30:48.627+00:00Thanks for that link, Comrade.Thanks for that link, Comrade.Mike Ballardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05410520975856239745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-14349142308317748542015-02-16T23:04:40.366+00:002015-02-16T23:04:40.366+00:00Miliband also abetted the Libya bombing: &quot;a j...Miliband also abetted the Libya bombing: &quot;a just cause&quot; he called it; &quot;a feasible mission&quot; he described it.ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-32760545900561672302015-02-16T02:23:51.888+00:002015-02-16T02:23:51.888+00:00I&#39;m sure these one or two socialist MPs would ...I&#39;m sure these one or two socialist MPs would expose the hypocrisy and would name and shame those &quot;worthy&quot; patriots who smuggle out their ill-gotten gains while accepting all the national &quot;honours&quot; and claim authority as &quot;wealth creators&quot; to lecture the working class on supposed social responsibility and austerity. I don&#39;t expect silence on the issue.<br /><br />However, the deeper point is that this is really an intra-capitalist dispute. Other capitalists resent the tax burden being unfairly imposed upon themselves and it will be they who will eventually pressure changes to the law, albeit, with their usual tardiness. <br /><br />Our primary task is to raise the legitimacy not of tax rates or their evasion but the actual existence of a class of rich individuals and corporations and where they derive their profits, interest and rents which pays their taxes ...your and my surplus value. Once we demonstrate where the real theft lies, the tax cheating becomes a secondary concern. We no longer set our sights on abolishing tax avoidance but abolishing the capitalists plus the state they are required to fund.<br /><br />Not sure if you know of it but this pamphlet is a useful explanation of taxes.<br /><br />https://www.marxists.org/archive/keracher/1935/producers-parasites.htm<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com